In the Twilight
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [AT] Nene does not go with Taiki, because she cannot risk losing sight of DarkKnightmon. She still has a few aces to play, and he still needs her. She can't change her play in the endgame. It could be her only chance to find Yuu.


**A/N: **And now that I'm finally watching Xros wars, a whole new plethora of plot bunnies decide to strike. And since I consider each of the digimon series a new fandom, I figured it would be a good idea to exercise at least one of those bunnies.

The chapters will be rather on the short side, but this is because of the way I've split them. They'll be titled either Zone Transfer: Zone A to Zone B, which covers the time around transferring zones, or it'll be called C Zone, which is time in the zone itself (A, B and C will naturally be substituted for the names of the Zones). Because the transferring scenes will be shorter than the in-Zone stuff, I'll split chapters so they're about the same length…hence they're all small. I'll try for the 1,500 mark for all of them.

* * *

**In the Twilight**  
_Nene's Solitary Journey_

**Chapter 1  
Zone Transfer: Forest Zone to Dust Zone**

The look DarkKnightmon gave her was fleeting, but spoke finality. His grey-polished armour gleamed in the afternoon sun washed by the thick trees of the Forest Zone, the golden-trimmed edges alternatively dulled by the stronger shadows and illuminating his namesake all the more. It gave him the air of secrecy and power he coveted, and even when he was not facing her she could see the thinly veiled threat behind those dark eyes.

Her fingers tightly clasped the X-Loader. With the Code Crown of that Zone won, there was nothing them to the forests. No reason for either of them to stay; DarkKnightmon had his goals elsewhere, and she…she was yet to reach the point where her path could diverge from his.

'Zone –' She took a small, obscured, breath. '- Transfer.'

The Digital Gate opened up: a milk of green paint swirls lined with dabs of other colours. DarkKnightmon vanished into it without a pause, but she held herself, for the smallest of moments, back.

Green was Yuu's favourite colour: the symbol of growth, peace, of healing, of safety. Bright vibrant green that was easiest of all colours upon the eye, the colour of fresh grass lightly soaked with rain, of shoots growing out of their little backyard garden, of the crisp lettuce that always littered their salad dishes at dinner time. But she wasn't the Amano with the green thumb, and after Yuu's disappearance the shoots wilted and sagged, brushed with a dreary brown and leaves spotted heavily with black. And with spring having descended into the very crust of summer, the lush grass became yellowed and dry, breaking with every step. And with no-one to beg her to pick a lettuce, they only came to their home with a sale sticker attacked, the edges blackening with seasoned rot.

Why the journeys between zones were so covered in green, she did not know. Maybe it had to do with the darker side: the symbols of ambition, jealousy and greed. What other reason was there to travel between Zones, for it seemed ultimate power was the driving force of all. The Code Crowns: coveted by the Bugra army, Blue Flare and Xros Heart. The power of darkness for DarkKnightmon. Her brother for herself.

'Nene!'

'Taiki-kun,' she replied monotonously. His faults really did blare too brightly; he gave too much of himself in every fight he emerged in, and in doing to he lay himself utterly bare. He was a good strategist and a strong leader, but he was simply too soft.

But so was she; it was why she had wanted Kiriha's assistance – although he ultimately had denied it to her.

'Don't follow me,' she said quietly, her back still towards them but now futher away as she took a step towards the portal of her own creation. 'Don't follow into the Dust Zone.'

She took another step as she finished her statement, green devouring her vision. Green for peace, for healing…and for her ambition. Green for the path that lead forward into the future.

Green wasn't the colour of hope. Or mistakes.

* * *

Alone during the Zone Transfer, she allowed the mask to slip off her face, revealing the strained features that marred it. DarkKnightmon was in her X-Loader, like all Digimon unable to keep his form in the inter-dimensional space. So was Sparrowmon, the closest thing she had to a friend…

But she couldn't even confine in Sparrowmon, because DarkKnightmon was always listening, almost always watching. Their relationship was an obvious one of mutual use and abuse, but as allies in only the barest sense of the word she could afford to give no additional weakness to him. Already, he had a very powerful weapon held over her head: the well-being of her brother. Add that the proximity of her other Digimon friends inside the X-Loader – or even outside it – he had an iron-clad hold on her.

Naturally, she wasn't without her use. Nene was not so egotistical nor blind that she would over-emphasise her worth to a Digimon with an obviously larger agenda. DarkKnightmon needed her, though so far he had only revealed his intentions in long-standing curiosity as to the ownership of the fractions of the Code Crown and the more recent endeavour into the powers of darkness at Heaven's Zone. Indeed, another could argue that he had also coveted the power of the unbeatable guardian of Forest Zone – but it was a faux that only one who had analysed him like she had could place. He cared not for Deckerdramon, elsewise he would have seized that digimon instead of playing out the perfect escape. Nor did he care for the Code Crowns, for she could have easily snatched a few away from all who currently owned them: the three Generals of Bugra Army, Kiriha with Blue Flare, and Taiki with Xros Heart. What he did care for though, she was yet to find out.

He knew her motive, for it was an obvious one and it had been he who had brought it to her. Arriving by spirit in the human world to offer her a X-Loader and a place by his side as a General so she could find the younger brother she had lost to the Digital World. When there was not a whisper of him, even after attaining the Monitormon and the ability to observe several Zones at once, she wondered if she had been tricked into taking the reigns of Twilight Army…but she soon realised that the reigns were in another's hands and she was just a piece of the chess-board. A piece of high standing, granted, like the Queen – ah, but she lacked that frontal power – or the Bishop, but a piece nonetheless, subject to the will of the one who moved her.

It wasn't DarkKnightmon; of that much she was sure, but he had her in his grip anyway because she also discovered that he, or Twilight Army as a whole, were somehow linked to her brother's disappearance. Little snippits that were fed to her, almost as if DarkKnightmon – or whoever pulled the strings as a whole – was keeping her placate with little morsels of food so she wouldn't starve and become rabid.

Unfortunately, the entire situation was so heavily wrought in secrets, deceit and lack of knowledge that she had to very carefully manevour around the board. Even in the inter-dimensional space between zones, she was forced to guard herself most carefully. Her form and appearance could relax, for no Digimon could hold their form between Zones and that was a small mercy to her, but even then she had to make sure not a sound of anger or displeasure emerged. Her sadness she did not bother to hide, not only because it would be impossible to do so but because it was a strong shield against other emotions. Something that was to be expected, especially with the lack of a parental influence upon their little family. Something that she could crouch behind, safe.

It helped that her sadness seemed to make DarkKnightmon happy. Occasionally, she allowed herself to think of him as a fatherly figure, stern in placing down his expectations to her but allowing the briefest threads of concern to flood through. But that was early in her journey; she found little comfort in such words now that she had a chance to understand him more. Now, it was a game between them. A game wherein she was currently at a standstill – but determined to win nonetheless.

It was an investment, she thought to herself as she sighted the opening to the new Zone, a break in the checkered mat of green. There had been no other break in the interdimensional space, and she wondered whether or not Taiki would be following.

Part of her hoped so, the other part not. For it would not just be for her as he, Taiki, thought, but for DarkKnightmon's purposes as well. All humans had darkness in them after all, and he needed more than her. He had not given her the orb; he needed her alive, in health. He had not interfered with Sparrowmon's attempt to free her, even if ultimately it had cost him power.

It was a small comfort. Smaller was the arrival of the Dust Zone, and a new square for their chess game.

* * *

This time, DarkKnightmon did not wait for her command to Reload, and after the Forest Zone she could say nothing to rebuke him. Instead, she released her Monitormon into the dust cloud, hoping to get a solid understanding of the Zone she had just stepped into.

The images started coming to her immediately: thieving Digimon grabbing at every piece of metal they could find, even from their own friends…or so it seemed. Her X-Loader, already in her hand, remained there and firmly within her sight. It was valuable after all, and not only to her.

She wondered if she could even call the black device a precious item of hers. At the moment it was important, but as a means to and end moreso than anything else. And still it was imperfect; its design too complex to be practical and serendipity more than anything else accounted for the full utilisation of its function.

She wasn't a dreamer like her brother. The X-Loader was not a miracle-maker, nor did she expect it to be such. It was still something she couldn't allow to be stolen. Not then in any case.

'Nene.'

She looked up at DarkKnightmon, who had been surveying the Monitormon's feedback with some interest of his own. 'It seems you chose a good place,' he said appreciably. 'We are unlikely to be bothered by the residents here.'

There was a hiss from the X-Loader; Sparrowmon too was following the Monitormon's feedback.

DarkKnightmon nodded knowingly, before turning back to his General. 'We'll be out of their reach.' His tone was unruffled, calm, but something beneath said it wasn't only the thieving citizens he spoke of.

'DarkKnightmon –' Nene began, but the other turned around and cut her off.

'Come,' he said. 'We're going to the Mirage Tower, and it's good to know that place at least has been saved from pillaging.'

He grasped her around the waist, not painfully tight and yet firm all the same, and leapt from the veil of dust that still clung to them. By the time it would settle, riled up by their sudden arrival, all traces of their landing will have vanished, leaving the land undisturbed.


End file.
